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[Spoiler Description](#s "Spock dies at the end of The Wrath of Khan!")

This stems from a short conversation /u/ademnus and I had yesterday. Basically, he was talking about biotech, which made me realize that it marks the one area of technological advance that Star Trek seems extremely reluctant to embrace, and is even hostile towards.

And, just for the record, by biotech, I am referring to any technology that works directly with biological life, or is created from biological life. So this means living ships like Moya from Farscape, augmentations like those in the Deus Ex universe and in Neil Stephenson novels, crazy genetic modification like in the Culture novels, and so on.

One of the interesting things about Star Trek is that it's one of the most resolutely optimistic SF universes when it comes to technological advancement. Improving knowledge and technology is fundamentally seen as a good thing, and while there are occasional problems and drawbacks associated with new technology in Trek, it's never anything more than a setback or an inconvenience. Hell, it seems like someone manages to accidentally create artificial life every second Tuesday in the Trek universe, so it's no surprise that they embrace technology.

Of course, here is where I come to the crux of my post: any sort of biotech, with a few limited exceptions, is almost always cause for ostracism at best, and outright villainy at worst. Just a few prominent examples:

1) Cybernetics. Obviously, we have the Borg as the primary example here. They're most definitely a force of evil in the Trek universe, and a big part of that seems to stem from the fact that they're a melding of technology and organic life. Geordi's VISOR is the best counter-example that I can think of, but it's very limited in scope and is the only real positive kind of cybernetics that we see regularly.

2) Genetic engineering. It's seen as terrible and corrupting in the Federation (augments, Khan, Bashir and company) and is used to help illustrate how manipulative and controlling the founders are with the Dominion, as both the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar are genetically engineered. I have yet to think of a truly positive portrayal of genetic engineering in Trek.

3) Pure biotech, such as living ships. Seen in limited form with things like Farpoint station and Species 8472, but it's never really been explored in any great detail in Star Trek. The few times we do see it, it's generally treated as being strange and unusual by Starfleet characters.

So, why then is Trek so reluctant to embrace biotech in any form? Obviously it's something that has pros and cons, but given the franchise's embrace of other forms of technology, it seems strange to me that this area gets such a different treatment.

First up: biotech wasn't really a big thing back in the 1960s when the first Star Trek was made. It was in a few written science fiction stories, but wasn't really a mainstream idea yet. Remember that the fact that DNA is the carrier of heritable characteristics was only discovered about a decade or so before the first Star Trek episode was made - this was bleeding-edge stuff at the time! We're lucky there was any reference to it at all.

Fast-forward 20 years to the next generation of Star Trek shows, and we have a real-world awareness that such a thing as biotech and genetic engineering could exist, but a TV franchise which already doesn't include such things. It would be jarring to introduce biotech into a milieu which didn't previously include these things.

However, I think the main thing to consider here is that biotech would significantly change the human race, as well as its environment. Kirk's era is 250 years in our future (300 years ahead of the time the show was made); Picard's/Sisko's/Janeway's era is nearly another 100 years after that. There's a feeling going around science fiction recently that you can't write science fiction too far ahead into the future because of "the Singularity", where humans and computers merge into some cybernetic consciousness (or some such thing - I've tried to stay away from that discussion). The same thing is becoming true of biotech. If you write science fiction 250 or 350 years into the future, you have include biotech... which means you have to allow for the fact that people won't be Homo Sapiens any more. Look at the future humans in Greg Bear's 'Eon', for example - they're not recognisable as Homo Sapiens.

If the Star Trek writers allowed for a history where the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s were successful, and genetic engineering of humans became commonplace, then by the mid 2200s, people just wouldn't look like us any more. You'd need just as much make-up and prosthetics on the human characters as on the alien characters.

And, that's not practical. Nor does it make for good television. The main characters have to be people we can relate to. Would we still relate to Kirk if he was genetically modified to be 200cm tall, gorgeously handsome, super-strong, and with an IQ of 180? No, we wouldn't. We have to be able to see something of ourselves in him, and Picard, and Sisko, and Janeway - and even in people like Spock and Bashir. They have to be flawed, like us. They have to struggle, like us. They have to look like us. They have to be us.

So, Star Trek needs to find a way to keep its human characters looking... well... human. That's why the writers had to create a culture which is against genetic engineering.

That's a good point, I hadn't really thought about it from the production angle (which is funny, as that's often my thing). I don't really have any response to any individual points in your post, but they are good thoughts, thanks.

I had noticed the broadly negative view of genetic engineering as I was watching DS9 recently. It struck me as unusual for Trek to be so strongly disapproving of tech outside of the context of its use as a weapon, particularly if it has medical applications. Still, it does make sense to imagine a society that is uneasy with routine genetic enhancement given that it turned into the Eugenics Wars in the past. After all, the idea of eugenic practices still make us acutely uncomfortable, and the war that involved those was over 70 years ago.

I haven’t seen any Khan recently, so can’t really do the close read on that, but DS9 definitely had a lot to say on this subject. In terms of a societal context, it’s interesting to note that the series occurred during a period of rising optimism as to the prospects of gene therapy (the series ended only a few months before the Gelsinger case arrived to bring gene therapy research to a screeching halt from which it is still slowly recovering). Cytological and reproductive techniques (I’m thinking specifically of IVF, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, even the successful cloning of mammals) were also making significant and well-publicized strides during the 90s, both in terms of capability and accessibility. The idea of genetic engineering has been around in science fiction for a long time, but I think it’s helpful to remember that DS9 was being written at a time when these things were starting to seem close to possible for the first time.

There is a reflexive disregard for the effects of environment on phenotype running through the series, which I think might contribute to the scariness factor Trek assigns to genetic enhancement. When Bashir’s genetic engineering is revealed, his friends come to his defense with two arguments: 1) he has many positive qualities that were not enhanced and 2) even though he broke the law, he’s useful now that he’s here. The idea that the treatments he received are wholly responsible for the current state of the traits that were targeted is never questioned, even when it comes to such a complex and ephemeral trait as intelligence (it also kills me that the evidence provided for his preternatural intelligence is always his ability to do tricky arithmetic in his head or calculate unverifiable probabilities to a couple decimal points, but that’s a different point). It makes genetic engineering seem more powerful and more easily put to evil uses if you think of it as a process by which you can precisely determine an individual’s skills and characteristics at any point in their life time, not just as a way you could likely nudge those skills or traits in a certain direction. Genetic engineering can’t take environmental factors or epigenetics out of the picture, though I’ll allow that these factors aren’t immune to potential manipulation, if a time came when they were actually well understood by the scientific community. However, the manipulation of genotype is the only procedure that is specifically mentioned in the series.

Still, many physical traits are less complex and more easily seen to be the result of a particular genotype. The main concern you’ll hear voiced in the real world about potential human genetic engineering is that once some people start doing it not just to fix their kid’s major handicaps (and what is considered a handicap is subject to considerable debate), but just to make her prettier or faster, there will be pressure on other parents to keep their offspring competitive by doing the same, and that this will further reinforce a hierarchy based on wealth and social position. The wealthier you are, the more money you have to spend on getting your kid’s genotype altered to make him ripped, handsome, and with farts that smell like roses. Worf actually voices this explanation in “Statistical Probabilities.”

In that same episode, we also meet a bunch of people who are all messed up because their genetic enhancement didn’t go exactly as planned. The risks you apparently may face from low quality genetic engineering include quietness, anxiety, douche-baggery, and indiscriminate lust. These traits are implied to be complications of imperfect attempts at genetic engineering, which I could buy—every therapy has risks, so why couldn’t altering a genome have effects on personality, particularly if it results in a change in brain structure (as Bashir described)?

However, later in the episode, we see a bewildering situation in which the genetically engineered gang project that the Dominion War is unwinnable, and that surrendering to the Dominion is by far the best course of action because it will save so many lives in the short term. This is a very particular kind of consequentialist moral reasoning, which all of the genetically engineered people, including Bashir, apparently share without question. Incidentally, consequentialism is not foreign to the Trek universe.

Sisko predictably turns down this plan, after an odd conversation in which Sisko points out these findings are based on calculations of probability and therefore not absolutely certain to come to pass and Bashir somehow denies that fact, somewhat undercutting his supposed lofty intelligence. The genetically engineered folks end up trying to sell out the Federation to the Dominion in order to minimize casualties, also consistent with that brand of consequentialism. Basically, it is implied that the mere fact of being genetically engineered causes adoption of a system of moral reasoning that we reject. The effective argument here is not just that a system in which genetic engineering is routine is morally wrong, but that genetically engineering an individual in any way makes that individual both possessed of a powerful hubris and dedicated to serving an unacceptable moral system. It’s an odd assertion, and not really based on any particular concept. There’s no real thought process presented for why being really smart or even just genetically altered would necessarily cause you to overlook your own limitations and adopt an unusual moral reasoning. The message here is just kind of, “Genetic engineering is bad, mmkay?”

Still, gene therapy is apparently allowed in the Federation. Bashir says it is legal only for “severe birth defects,” but later he ‘resequences’ Jadzia’s ovaries so she can try and conceive with Worf . It’s clearly not a surreptitious act, as they discuss it on a relaxed walk down the busy Promenade. Apparently, the standards for doctor-patient confidentiality are a lot lower in the future. Of course, gratitude for the success of this procedure is what leads her to go hang out in the Bajoran temple where possessed!Dukat can come along and kill her, so make of that what you will. Basically, it’s not entirely clear what therapies are and are not considered permissible, and what would be considered the line between therapy and enhancement.

As a footnote incidental to the discussion, the way Julian describes his younger self, it certainly sounds as though he had a real developmental disorder that merited treatment. He describes himself as a six year old who was “still trying to tell a dog from a cat, a tree from a house.” That’s not just a kid who isn’t going to win the Fields Medal, that’s a kid with a problem that the school or the pediatrician should have identified, and gotten an early intervention program together for him and his parents. But it’s still clear his parents had a whole bunch of his traits done up to be above the normal range.

For Cybernetics you can see positive examples in the Bynars. While the individuals that were presented in the show were the antagonists the species as a whole are presented in a positive light.

For a federation angle I remember a DS9 Episode where one of the high muckity mucks had to have part of his brain replaced by Bashir with a computer in order to continue negotiations, more so Nog got a replacement leg after losing his in battle. This says to me that the technology is available but humans in general want to avoid it.

You mentioned Deus Ex earlier and that is where I'm guessing the answer lies. In DE: Human Revolution the theme was one of giving up ones humanity in order to gain an edge. At one point I remember wandering through a brothel where a prostitute and pimp were argueing because he wanted her to get augments in order to draw more costumers and she didn't want to do it. While I don't imagine the Star Trek universe ever faced something so dark the fact still remains that for most of us a voluntary augmentation would mean giving up part of your humanity.

I am a stroke survivor, I lost all of the feeling in the right side of my body and it took six of the most painful months in my life to regain approximately 40% of my feeling back in that side. I am able to walk and talk normally but still have to watch my feet when I use stairs in order to make sure my feet are placed correctly. Even with all these problems if you approached me tomorrow and said a new arm and leg were available and would return to 100% I would be very reluctant to accept. Giving up any part of my humanity seems to high a price to me.

I would imagine that the populace of the Federation feels the same and that's why we don't see voluntary Cybernetics that much.

Yeah, the DS9 episode was the one were Bareil had his mind replaced so he could continue some supposedly important negotiations with the Cardassians. I wouldn't really call it a positive portrayal, though, as it essentially ended up killing him anyway.

And I can definitely see your perspective, as well. Interesting thoughts.

Closest thing I can think of is Gomtu, but even Gomtu wasnt necessarily engineered. If I recall correctly, it was a living entity of tis own merely inhabited by beings in a sort of symbiosis. But at least the notion of a living ship was there. Heck, Id still love to know if Tam and Gomtu are still cruising around as symbiotic, empathic, intergalactic, trans species lovers.

Otherwise, though, you're right -its always being played as villanous. I can't say it isn't though. Even my favorite biotech author, Paul DiPhillipo doesnt exactly paint a rosy picture. But it does seem to be a largely untapped source of new, cutting edge sci fi that id love to see explored more fully by the genre.

Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say it's something that should even be considered good, but it would be nice to see a more neutral take on it. More like Iain M. Banks's Cultureverse, where a lot of this stuff exists, but you're left to draw your own conclusions about its impact.

Hm. Well, the eponymous Culture basically is to the Federation as the Federation is to the Roman Empire. It's probably the purest and most advanced utopia I know of in SF. Naturally, the books themselves tend to play around on the ragged edges of said utopia, but they're honestly worth reading for many of the ideas alone.

So I watched "Unnatrual Selection" on the TNG Season 2 Bluray set last night and, particularly after reading this thread, man that episode is weird!

There is such a clear, clear precedence already in the Star Trek universe that genetic engineering is wrong, from Space Seed / TWoK, to even parts of the dialogue in Encounter at Farpoint, Star Trek has made several clear statements already that in this future, humanity tried genetic engineering, it didn't work, and now it's strictly forbidden.

And yet this episode is all about a Federation medical facility doing all kinds of whacked out genetic engineering trying to create the future of humanity?!? Uhhhh WHAT?! And like, Picard and Co. aren't even at all questioning it, it's just like 'oh yeah too bad this really interesting research has gone haywire otherwise it would be perfect!'

I was actually laughing out loud at some of Pulaski's dialog. It's just so incredibly inconsistent with every other instance in Star Trek I can think of where this type of genetic engineering is discussed.

Anyone else notice this? I wonder what a possible 'in-universe' explanation for this could be? I would be impressed as hell if someone could actually offer a reasonable one!

As for Picard and Co, no, I agree, it doesn't really fit. But as for Pulaski, there are always people who don't agree with what is considered right or wrong at the time. I could see her as being one of them. In some ways she struck me as the "stick it to the man" type. As a parallel, although it admittedly might not be the best one since it's probably not as big of an issue as Genetic Engineering, today weed is currently illegal, but not everyone accepts that. And I'm not just talking about the "typical" pothead. She might view Genetic Engineering in a loosely similar way.

I get the point you are trying to make but its difficult to swallow here. Before Khan was shot into space he damn near destroyed the planet with war...genetic engineering did a lot more damage than pot ever has haha...

Also the Bashir DS9 eps about it - it is clearly a major federation taboo and a big deal to Starfleet and Starfleet medical. Pretty funny IMO!